As for the review - to say I was a tad gobsmacked by it is an understatement. After a number of listens I'd give it a 7 /10. But be warned; Anyone expecting hard guitar riffs, screaming solos aplenty and a return to the sound of the past is not going to like it. The album's a mixture of The circle / Lost Highway with quite a strong - somewhat preachy - narrative angle and a feeling of open road Americana throughout. I seem to remember Jon saying in the 80'S their template was music that sounded like Springsteen meets Van Halen. Nowadays it sounds more like Springsteen meets latter day U2 anthemics. If you ignore what the album isn't, then there's much to enjoy about what it is. But the old school brigade will hate it.

The main criticism I have is that the guitar solos are always too short. Richie just doesn't get extended lead breaks like he used to and it's a real shame as I believe a number of the songs could have benefited from them. In fact, some of his solos come to such a sudden, almost unceremonious full stop it makes me wonder if he got longer when he was recording them and they were edited later on.

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"I'm anaspeptic, frasmodic even compunctious to have caused you such perricombobulations."